Astronauts drink from Zero-G cups aboard the International Space Station

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All of you physics buffs out there will recognize the genius of Dr. Don Pettit in the video above. A current member of the crew on board the International Space Station (ISS), he has conducted a number of fascinating experiments for classrooms across the country to study. In his spare time, he has also invented a zero-gravity drinking cup.

Tired of always sucking his drinks through a straw “like an insect,” he desired a way to share a drink with his compatriots during meal times in the “normal.” Because of the lack of gravity aboard the ISS, drinking liquids is an understandable hurdle. You simply can’t pour hot coffee into a cup and drink it, as it will float around the cabin scalding anything it comes into contact with. Enter Dr. Pettit and his love of creating useful objects by tinkering with things he has to hand.

The Zero-G cup is a deceptively simple design that Pettit came up with in 2008 during his first trip to the ISS. Being an avid coffee drinker, he found the java that NASA had provided in the usual Capri-Sun like bags to be substandard for his tastes. During one of his days off, he decided to try to create a cup that he could pour freshly brewed coffee into. Inspired by the fuel pumping method used in rocket engines, he ripped the plastic cover off one of his station manuals and folded it into a teardrop shape. Using some yellow “space-tape” he completed his cup by sealing the edges and the bottom so no liquid would leak out. The result was a cup that uses surface tension to hold liquid in place until a sip is desired.

The shape of the cup creates a meniscus that keeps the supply of liquid at the bottom while at the same time feeding a small stream up to the lip. As mentioned above, Pettit’s design borrows from the geometry and technology used in space rocket engines. If a space vehicle tried to start its propulsion system without using this kind of fuel delivery, it could create pockets inside the fuel lines. If you have ever been in a car that had issues with air getting into the gas line, you have experienced the hitching and bucking that results. Now imagine that happening in space where your life might be on the line. You get the picture.

Leave it to a physics genius to come up with a simple solution to a vexing problem. NASA has now adopted Pettit’s cups as standard gear for the ISS and any other manned space flights it launches in the future. Too bad Pettit couldn’t patent his invention, he could retire a rich man!